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PHIL'S PHILOSOPHY By; D.P Kinkade Contributions By; Taylor & Drake Kinkade

UNCHARTED TERRITORY-

This particular article was very nearly titled -Kruger's Nightmare- with the obvious reference of Freddy Krueger, the infamous, horribly burned and deranged character from the horror film genre whom serial kills young people, while they are in the midst of having a nightmare, with real life consequences (inside the film). Personally I do not really care for the slasher type of film, for entertainment. It is fine if you do and I know a lot of folks do or there would be no incentive in making them, evidently a lot of money has been made with these type of movies, many of them having serial success in cinematic history, it is just my type of personality that really does not care for them.

Now, there have been instances where my disdain for slasher movies has been misinterpreted. I was once inquiring about a paranormal thriller movie, some folks I know had seen, because I was interested in seeing it myself and they made the observation that, “I thought you did not like scary movies!” I told them that I never had a problem with scary movies, which seemed to catch them by complete surprise. You see, they did not recognize that a slasher film does not encompass the whole genre of horror or “scary” films. I love a good “ghost story” and other adventures into paranormal activity, it is just the psychotic, chainsaw wielding, lone killer, type of movies, I have an aversion to, not the whole genre of movies which tap into our collective fear. Our eldest child does not really care for any type of scary movie. She will go to some lengths to avoid them, making excuses even when in the company of several friends, she would just rather avoid them altogether but only a bit of that trait came as a hand-off from her dad.

I spelled Kruger right though, because the nightmare I actually want to explore is based on a phenomenon known as the: Dunning-Kruger, effect. It also is about perceptions and when accompanied by power, influence or even general acceptance, can really become a sort of real-life nightmare. The definition of the Dunning-Kruger effect is- "a cognitive bias in which low-ability individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability as much higher than it really is." In simple terms, it means a situation where ignorance not only does not know it is ignorant but believes it is knowledgeable or “smart” or in other words, inept is mistaken as adept! When folks with no clue or “common sense,” have a great deal of influence and control over your life, things can get real bad, real quick and it may seem like a terrifying nightmare that you can not wake up from. That is enough about that for now.

The reason I finally settled on -Uncharted Territory- for this particular article (other than it being a subtle swipe at opposing opinion; ie charter schools) is because I wanted to explore going in directions different from what a lot of us have grown accustomed to, going into territory largely ignored, except for the few brave souls willing to challenge convention. I know, just from being an observer of life, that a lot of folks feel like a lot of establishment and a lot of ingrained practices, are in dire need of a good shake up: you can count me among the ones that feel that way, although my solutions might go in a bit of a different direction than many whom also share my concerns.

I was once talking to some friends, whom at that time were soon  expecting an addition to their family. I told them that if they did have a little girl she would most likely indeed become a “daddy's girl” it is just something that is. We dads treat our daughters with kid gloves and think of them as real life princesses. My family was no exception, I pampered our daughter more than our son, even though I love them both equally. Our daughter will always be a “daddy's girl” but as our son grows older, it is really him who views the world the closest to the same way his dad does. We have discovered that when it comes to education he came up with his own perceptions but they closely mirror my own and when it comes to how we learn, it is almost identical and that can be a handicap for right-brainers, in a left-brain structured system but it may lead to adventure too, if you are willing to challenge it.

I know when I was growing up that when it came to school, a very large part of it felt like a nightmare I could not wake up from; I hated just about every minute of it and just about every ounce of curiosity was squashed out of me, until later in life. I was so soured by the whole educational process that I neglected going on to college, a decision I later deeply regretted and  I hope to help avoid the same decision being made by my own children (As I write this, one has already gone much further than I did and the other is about to, so-whew.) My son and I have had many a conversation about school though and he shares many of the same frustrations I had; although I don't think bullying has been a very heavy factor for him, as it was for me during a good part of my academic pursuits. 

 Just the other day he shared with me an insight into what school would look like in his ideal version. He said that "elementary school would be based on the fundamentals or “core” concepts everyone needs but after reaching middle school things would shift to where there would be much more freedom to explore things that interested and intrigued you" and yes; that is almost a verbatim quote from him. I recently told someone that I thought he felt school should be about exploring curiosity and inspiring a love for life-long learning. Now, of course those are actually my words, not a quote from him, but they come from many conversations with him about his own ideas and ideals for his education and several conversations about how so much structure and attention to detail seems to overpower actually having a creative thought. He also recently shared about how it frustrates him when he tells an authority figure that he does not understand something and they just repeat it the same exact way, thinking he just missed something. “Don't they realize that if I did not get it the first time, repeating it isn't helping anything, can't they try a different method!” again an almost verbatim quote from him.

What he doesn't know is that there are trained and very wise educators who have been espousing many of the same methods, which he embraced by just listening to his heart about what feels right. In my ideal world Linda Darling Hammond or Alfie Kohn would be in charge of the basic direction for education for this country, both stellar educators with brilliant minds and an astute understanding of how most of us really learn. Who would be my worst nightmare? Without mentioning any names in a negative stance, which I try never to do, let's just say it would be one completely DeVoid of any clue or common sense, when it comes to what the majority of our children really need to thrive.

I have to admit that if I had a lot of money I would be selfish in regards to the education my children would have gotten, they probably would have been in a private school, if I could do it all over again and I even have an idea which one that would probably be, but that is not my ideal, my ideal is that all children get the type of education personalized to the way they learn best. This is the direction I hope someday soon this country takes, one geared in a direction largely untraveled, up to now, but it can change if enough of us demand it.

We desperately need some things shaken up in this country and we need to get rid of a lot of things we do just because, “that is the way we have always done it.” If we take the message of Christ seriously and examine it closely, we will see that it has a lot more to do with hearts willing to transform this world than in getting out of it. Let's go in a direction rarely explored before, let's find out if compassion and empathy can transform this world from, “a living nightmare (for some)” into something only dreamed of in the hearts of the bravest among us.

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